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John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 10 blogs containing over 8000 articles with John having written over 4000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 16 million times. John also manages Healthcare IT Central and Healthcare IT Today, the leading career Health IT job board and blog. John is co-founder of InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: @techguy and @ehrandhit and LinkedIn.

I had a chance to talk with Colin Hung from Stericycle, a real thought leader in the world of healthcare IT and patient engagement. You can watch our discussion below where we talk about the lack of patients at healthcare IT conferences and a healthcare IT vendor perspective around interaction with patients. Plus, we dive into the concept of patient experience and patient’s desire to communicate and interact with their physician. We also talk about self-scheduling appointments in healthcare and involving patients in product design.

Thanks to Colin for sharing a bit about the benefits of involving more patients in healthcare IT. I’m sure we could have talked for a few more hours about this topic.

The following is a guest blog post by Laura Alabed-Olsson, Marketing Manager ofStericycle Communication Solutions,as part of theCommunication Solutions Seriesof blog posts. Follow and engage with them on Twitter:@StericycleComms
As a part of the team behind online self-scheduling solution InQuicker, I am asked this question a lot. When you’re dealing with the sickest of the sick of patients, can online self-scheduling really make a difference? Yes, it can. Let’s begin by looking at things from a patient’s perspective.

Imagine you’re sick. Really sick. You haven’t showered in a day or so. You’re in your pajamas and buried under the covers in your bed. Even if your favorite ER or urgent care is the best of the best – think big-screen TV, a beverage bar and a tall stack of your favorite magazines – wouldn’t you rather wait from home than this palace of a waiting room? Online self-scheduling makes this possible. You simply go to your preferred provider’s website. Select an estimated treatment time. Provide some basic information. And then you wait from home until it’s time to be seen. It’s that easy. (You still feel crummy, but at least a little bit happy that you won’t have to wait long when you get there, right?)

Now, let’s look at it from a provider’s perspective. With online self-scheduling, you have the benefit of knowing who’s coming in, why they’re seeking care, and when they’ll arrive – giving you plenty of time to prepare space and allocate resources. Online self-scheduling supports operational efficiency, big time.

Running behind and fearful that you can’t see a self-scheduled patient at their estimated treatment time? No problem. Just let them know when you’ll be ready, so that they can adjust their timing. Then, bask in the glow of knowing that when they do arrive, they’re certain to be happier than they would have been had they been sitting in the waiting room the entire time. Talk about getting the patient-provider relationship off on the right foot!

Today’s patients want – and increasingly expect – a patient-centric approach to healthcare. Online self-scheduling supports this (along with patient acquisition and retention, operational efficiency and care coordination). In fact, across the clients that use InQuicker for their online scheduling needs, we see patient satisfaction rates that average 90 percent.

Yes, online self-scheduling really can change (and improve) the ER/urgent care experience. Do you want happy patients and happy providers? Online self-scheduling could be the answer.

Free EMR Newsletter Want to receive the latest news on EMR, Meaningful Use,
ARRA and Healthcare IT sent straight to your email? Join thousands of healthcare pros who subscribe to EMR and HIPAA for FREE!

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